After two months of what is apparently "summer" in London, ie rainy and 60s, Dan and I were dying to get some sunshine, and Greece definitely filled that need. Instead of trying to figure out ferries and checking into new hotels on every island, we decided to do a cruise. Not being what we consider, "cruise people" we actually found a small boat cruise on a converted yacht that sounded perfect. We booked with Variety Cruises and there were 31 people total on our boat. It was an awesome experience and we would recommend it to anyone. The staff was amazing, the food was great, the schedule was flexible, and since it was a small boat, we were able to get to a lot of islands and ports that the large cruise ships can't go to. We loved it so much we are seriously considering doing another one of their cruises next year.
We flew into Athens on Friday morning and our boat disembarked about 3:00pm. Here is our ride for the week:
After a cocktail reception, some sun time on the deck and a nice dinner on the boat, we arrived at a small island called Kea. It was already 10:00pm and having woken up at 3:00am, we were exhausted, so we took a short walk along the water front and called it a night. It looked like an adorable island, unspoiled by tourism and very charming.
The next morning, after a sleepless night on a very rough sea, we woke up in Mykonos. We took a short walking tour of Mykonos town, which was adorable despite the excessive wind, with loads of cute shops and restaurants in white washed buildings covered with bougainvillea.
windmills over Little Venice:
Petros; the island pelican:
Following our walk through town we took a ferry to the island of Delos. Delos is the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and was for hundreds of years considered a spiritual and commercial center of Ancient Greece. It is located in the center of the Cycladic Islands and is the second largest archaeological site in the world. Extensive excavation has been done, revealing remains of buildings, a theatre, shops, and temples dating back to about 900 BC-100 AD.
theatre:
Temple of Isis:
remains of mosaic flooring:
Statue base with footprints where the statue once stood:
Terrace of Lions, dedicated to Apollo around 600 BC:
Hall of Poseidoniasts; from 2nd century BC, during Roman rule:
After returning to Mykonos, we had the afternoon and evening to explore the island. We decided to walk to the closest beach we could get to, and we found one just around the bend from the Little Venice area, slightly sheltered from the wind, where we could plop down and go swimming.
That evening we took a stroll through the shops in town, bought a watercolor painting, had dinner at a cute restaurant just under the windmills (delicious grilled squid), and a drink at a great bar hanging out over the water before calling it a night.
sunset on Mykonos:
We sailed overnight towards Santorini, but stopped for a swim along the way the next morning next to an island called Eos. The water was gorgeous.
After lunch on the deck of the boat, we arrived in Santorini. Santorini is the largest island among a circular archipelago resulting from a volcanic eruption. As a result, the island is dominated by cliffs of red and black volcanic rock with the white-washed towns nestled at the top. We anchored under the town of Fira, the capital, and took a cable car up to the town.
Dan and I then hiked 7 miles from the town of Fira to Oia. It was a beautiful walk along the cliff with amazing views, well worth struggling through the heat and some unpaved sections wearing only flip-flops;-)
just starting out (the white town sticking out at the edge of the island way in the distance is Oia):
looking back at Fira:
walking through the towns of Firostefani & Imerovigli:
Dan de-herniating:
still a long way to go...
one of many cute churches along the way:
entering Oia:
We made it! (please excuse the excessive sweat and greasiness):
Oia:
We ended up meeting up with the rest of our group (who had taken an organized tour of the island) in Oia and took the bus back with them to Fira. In Fira, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset dinner overlooking the caldera (the center of the volcanic eruption) and then headed down the 600 steps to our boat (which incidentally were covered in donkey poop as the alternative to the cable car is to ride a donkey up these steps; so that made for a smelly walk.)
The next morning we arrived in Crete. We docked in the town of Rethymno and then took an hour long bus ride to the Minoan Palace of Knossos. Knossos dates back to 2000BC and the excavation has given archaeologists lots of information about the civilization of the ancient Minoans.
After an excellent guided tour, we had lunch at a family run taverna built into the remains of an ancient Roman aqueduct (see below; for some reason I didn't take a picture of the actual restaurant, too busy eating I guess.) It was a delicious traditional Greek meal with spanakopitas, greek salad, local olives, and homemade wine.
Once we got back to the boat, we decided to head straight for the beach. Conveniently, our boat was docked right next to miles of sandy beach with lots of water sports available. Having been talking about renting jet ski's all day, we visited the first stand on the beach where the guy told us it would be 50 euros for 50 minutes, which we thought was fair. Then, after we had been out there for only 15, we got pulled in and told that our time was up. Apparently, there was a miscommunication and he had said 50 euro for
15 minutes, which is frankly, a total rip off. So, after some not so nice words exchanged between Dan and the jet ski rental guy, we found a spot on the beach and tried not to let the incident ruin our day, it was a fun 15 minutes anyway.
We then took a walk through the old town area of Rethymno and did a little shopping. Crete is known for its olive oil and olive products so we bought some olive wood kitchen utensils and lots of olive oil. That night was "greek night" on the boat. They served grilled octopus and ouzo, and then a traditional Greek meal. The octopus was amazing and they even brought traditional Greek dancers onto the boat to perform for us.
Our chef showing us how to make Tzadziki:
sunset over Rethymno:
dancers:
We left Crete around 10:00 that night and enjoyed the next few hours having drinks on the bow of the ship looking at the thousands of stars. The next morning we arrived in Kythera, one of our favorite islands of the trip. Kythera is a small island just south of the Peloponnese, the peninsula on the southwest of the Greek mainland. Because Kythera has a small port, cruise ships can not stop there and it is not a popular tourist destination. Therefore, it maintains an authentic, unspoiled feel with many small villages and pristine rocky beaches. We took a bus up to the capital, Chora, a quaint town at the top of the hill, and took a walking tour through the Venetian Castle built in the 14th century.
all the shops sell trinkets made from these yellow flowers that are prevalent on the island:
castle:
views from the castle:
the town of Chora from the castle:
Kythera is also known for their thyme honey, which we sampled and bought, along with some delicious liquor made on the island. We spent the rest of the morning on the beach in Kythera, where we swam with a local sea turtle:)
We then sailed from Kythera to Monemvassia, enjoying the sun chaises on the front of the ship and the gorgeous Aegean sea. We even saw some dolphins swimming alongside our boat:)
Monemvassia is actually on mainland Greece, on the Peloponnese peninsula, but the town of Monemvassia is a large rocky island connected to the mainland by a land bridge. The "rock" is dominated by a large castle and the entire town lies within the castle walls. It is made up of tiny cobblestone streets with houses and balconies looking over the sea. Like Kythera, Monemvassia is not often visited by tourists and has retained an ancient charm. Wandering the alleys and climbing the castle ruins throughout this adorable town was one of my favorite experiences of the trip.
view from the ship:
entrance to the castle/town: (no vehicles allowed within the walls)
We had dinner that night at a cute restaurant overlooking the cliffs and the sea. The one downfall of Monemvassia was the vast numbers of stray cats who sat surrounding our table and begging for food as we ate. Otherwise, it was a lovely evening.
The next morning, after another swim stop, we arrived in the beautiful coast town of Nafplio, also on the Peloponnese peninsula. Nafplio had more of a southern France, Mediterranean coast town feel than the rest of the islands we had been to and some consider Nafplio one of the most beautiful towns in Greece.
After a walking tour of the town, Dan and I, and our new friends who we spent a lot of time with on the cruise, Sean and Lisa, decided to rent scooters. This was my first time on a scooter and it was a blast! We rode over the main hill of the town and then down the coastline to a cute local beach, where we sat down for lunch and some Mythos beers.
After some swimming, we drove back up the hill to the Palamidi Castle, built by the Venetians and one of 3 castles in the town (including the Bourtzi castle which sits on an island just 500 yards or so off the coast.) We walked around the castle grounds and got some great views of the town below.
Bourtzi castle:
views from Palamidi castle:
We then returned to the ship for the Captain's cocktail hour and dinner, where we mingled with the captain, summed up the trip and prepared for our last full day on board.
The next morning we arrived in Spetses, which was actually not on our regular itinerary, but was an "extra" island we had time to visit because our cruise was going so well:) (we were told many times that we were very lucky as July tends to be super windy and they often have to change the itinerary because they can't get to certain islands.) Spetses is a significant island in Greek history as it was the home of Laskariana Bouboulina, who led the Greek navy during the war of Independence from the Turks. We took a tour of Bouboulina's home and learned a lot about the Greek revolution and the significance of this island during the war. After the tour we had free time to explore the island and do some swimming before setting sail for our final island of the trip, Hydra.
Spetses:
Bouboulina's house:
Hydra is a tiny island just off the coast of the Peloponnese about 2 hours south of Athens. After getting off the boat, we had a delicious lunch right on the water at this adorable spot:
After lunch we did some swimming off the cliffs nearby and relaxed in the sun. We did a quick walk through the town before returning to the boat and heading back to Athens.
Dan and Sean swimming with the cute Spanish couple:
people jumping off the cliff (luckily, Dan talked himself out of this;-)
The next morning we arrived in Athens and said good bye to our boat and all the wonderful people we met on board. Here is the group picture:
We took the metro into the center of Athens and thanks to Dan's diamond status at Hilton, we were able to convince them to hold our bags for the day as we explored Athens. We went straight to the Acropolis and proceeded to hike up the hill and check out the sites. It was definitely great to see such historic monuments but a shame that the Parthenon and many of the other statues are covered in scaffolding. It was also insanely hot in Athens, especially on the top of the hill, so we didn't spend too long up there.
Roman theater:
Parthenon:
After visiting the Acropolis, we stopped in somewhere with misters and cold beer for lunch, and spent a while just trying to cool down. Then we took a walk along the national gardens and a quick peak at the Kalimarmaro Olympic stadium, built for the first Olympics in 1896 and made entirely of marble:
We then just headed to the airport early as Athens really had nothing else to offer. I'm glad we visited the Acropolis but otherwise, the city of Athens is really nothing to look at and not worth more than a few hours of your time (especially in July when it is so unbelievably hot you can't stand it; and this is coming from two people who spent 5 years in Arizona;-)). Overall, it was one of the best trips we have ever taken and such a beautiful and unique country.
